Protecting His Own. Lindsay McKenna

a finger at the window near the dark green panel behind the pilot’s seat. “Get down on your hands and knees and look out that window,” Gunnison growled. “You need to get a gander of area 5 from the air. If you’re looking for possible sites and locations for your medevac models, it would help to see the terrain from up here first.”

      It made sense. Why hadn’t Sam thought of this? Stung by his foresight, his understanding of her mission, she gripped the nylon webbing tightly. She really didn’t want to get that close to Gunnison, but he stood with his back to the bulkhead, only inches from where she’d have to kneel to look out the window. Sam didn’t relish the idea. Dressed in his military camouflage gear, Gunnison appeared even larger and more intimidating than usual. The look on his face was grim.

      “Yeah…okay,” she muttered defiantly. She’d just started to step forward when the Sea Stallion pitched unexpectedly. Sam let out a little cry as she found herself knocked off her feet.

      Hands, strong and caring, grabbed for her. A second later she found her face pressed against Gunnison’s chest as he planted his feet far apart to take her full weight. Oh! The mortification of it all!

      Sam made a strangled sound and instantly pushed away from Gunnison’s chest. He was laughing at her; she saw his blue eyes gleaming with humor. His mouth, however, was still a thin, disapproving slash as he helped her regain her footing. His hand remained firmly on her arm as she quickly knelt down and gripped the metal bars on either side of the window for support and balance. She felt heat flooding her neck and face. Oh, God, she was blushing! Fortunately, Gunnison couldn’t see her schoolgirl reaction.

      Or so she hoped. As she looked out the window, her heart pounding, her pulse erratic, she felt his bulk settle directly behind her. Jerking her head to glance over her right shoulder, she saw him kneel down on one leg, his body barely an inch from her back. What was he doing? Intimidating her? She watched as he settled the mike of his headset close to his lips.

      “Look to your left. That’s area 5 coming up in a hurry.” Roc leaned over her right shoulder, his left hand brushing her hair again as he pointed. He felt her tense as he loomed over her. The slight turbulence of the helicopter kept both of them off-kilter. Every time the helicopter bobbled, he would accidentally brush her shoulder or back, though he’d immediately compensate and pull away.

      The look on her face was one of anger and frustration. Did she think he liked this any more than she did? That he was doing it on purpose? Was she going to be able to rise above personal dislike of him and focus on their real objective? Knowing that both their headsets were tuned to a private intercom channel, he said, “Look, Doc, settle down, will you? Focus on the objective, the sites. Take a look down there instead of staring at me like I’m attacking you.”

      Gasping again, Sam glared up at him. Then, jerking her attention to the yellow-brown earth five thousand feet below, she tried to steady her chaotic breathing. Gunnison was so damn male, and very intimidating. He knew it, too, the bastard. He was doing this on purpose. Sam could see the glimmer of laughter in his narrowed eyes as he snapped at her.

      “What am I looking at?” she demanded tightly.

      Roc pulled a folded map from a jacket pocket and passed it to her so she could study it.

      Sam gripped the dirty, well-used map. The chopper was bobbling again. She felt Gunnison tense behind her, straightening his left leg and bracing his boot against the bulkhead. To his credit, he was trying not to brush against her, but the turbulence made it impossible.

      His face was so close to hers as he leaned forward and traced his index finger over the map that Sam felt trapped. Suffocated. He was so tall, almost larger than life as he framed her body with his.

      She winced as he spoke. “This is area 5. There are a couple visual markers to indicate the boundaries, and I’ll point them out to you. Out there, at three o’clock, is a radio tower. See it?”

      Sam tried to concentrate, but she could smell his masculine scent, feel his moist breath near her right cheek. Blinking, she followed his index finger as he pressed it against the window.

      “Uh, yeah, I see it.”

      “Okay. Good. That’s your northern boundary marker. Once we fly past, you’re in area 5, so everything below is your turf. That’s what you want to eyeball. You want to look at terrain, the possibilities for helicopters getting in and out, how far each potential site is from suburban housing and so on.”

      In a perverse way, Roc enjoyed the unexpected closeness to the doctor. She smelled of lilacs, and he wondered if it was from her shampoo or if she wore perfume. At this range he could see every freckle on her cheek. Her nostrils flared and he wondered if that was a sign of her displeasure at him being so close. Her eyes were a beautiful color, he discovered—like an evergreen forest. The pupils were huge and black, and if he read her gaze properly, she didn’t like him bending over her. Tough. He had a job to do.

      “Now,” he said, “here’s the south marker, one of the few microwave towers still standing.” He jabbed his finger down at the map she held unsteadily in her left hand. “We’ll see it in a second. I gave the pilot orders to fly on south of the tower so you could see your whole area.”

      How smart of him. Sam chided herself for being so immature. In reality, Gunnison was just doing his job—far better than she was at the moment. Trumped by his ability to focus on the task before them instead of the pettiness between them, she felt humiliated. Right now, Gunnison was being a lot more professional than she was. It was Sam holding a grudge from six months ago, not him.

      As a trained medical doctor, she had learned a long time ago to disconnect her feelings while working. She had learned not to take things personally. But sometimes, depending upon circumstances, that was hard to do.

      Right now, Gunnison was pushing every emotional button she owned. He had taken the high road in all of this and she…well, it wasn’t pretty. She was behaving like a fifteen-year-old girl who had been jilted.

      Sam tried not to think what he must think of her. Sending him a swift glance, she saw his eyes thaw for just a moment. In that split second, she glimpsed the man, not the marine on duty. But it happened so fast she thought she was imagining it. Jerking her head back toward the window, she concentrated on finding that microwave tower.

      “Yes…I see it,” she muttered finally.

      “Good. Now—” Roc swung his finger in an arc “—start checking out this area. The eastern boundary is nothing but desert and sagebrush.” He pulled his left hand back and looked at the dials on his watch. “In two minutes, we’re gonna hit that boundary—I’ll tell you when we fly over it. Then you’ll have three sides of area 5 in view. The pilot is going to fly to the western boundary and then turn back to the landing zone, which basically sits in the middle of it. There’s a destroyed shopping mall there. That’s in the heart of the area you want to consider.”

      “Yeah…okay. Thanks…” Sam scowled. She didn’t sound very grateful. It was a good idea to peruse the area from the air. This way, she could get an idea of where she might want her three medevac site models created. Trying to steady her heartbeat, which became faster and more erratic each time Gunnison accidentally brushed against her, she stared out the window.

      This was her first chance to look at the actual devastation caused by the giant quake. For the last five weeks she’d been handling the huge number of casualties from it, but she’d had little concept of the massive damage the earthquake had wrought on the L.A. basin. Mother Nature, when she was pissed off, could really stick it to them, Sam thought sadly. Holding the map in her left hand, she focused all her concentration on the job before her. As she spotted the second tower, she heard Gunnison tell her they’d just flown across the eastern boundary.

      Below her, Sam saw rolling hills of sagebrush and cactus flowing down toward the first block of red-roofed homes, which seemed to be carved from the land. After that, suburbs spread everywhere, like a colourful quilt covering the earth as far as she could see. As they flew on, Sam could see the utter devastation that the monster quake had wrought. Few homes were standing. Most were flattened